Scientific Advisory Board

We write the papers that others cite

Scientific Advisory Board

David AschMD, MBA

Dr. David Asch is the John Morgan Professor of Medicine and Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Professor of Health Care Management and of Operations, Information and Decisions at the Wharton School. He is Executive Director of the Penn Medicine Center for Innovation. He created and from 2001 to 2012 directed the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion—the Department of Veterans Affairs’ national center to support vulnerable populations and reduce racial disparities. From 1998 to 2012 he was the Executive Director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, the largest university-based health policy research organization in the world.

Awards and Honors John M. Eisenberg National Award for Career Achievement in Research from the Society of General Internal Medicine (2010)VA Under Secretary’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research (2008)Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award from AcademyHealth (1997)Elected member of the Association of American Physicians and the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) of the National Academy of SciencesFull List

EducationMBA from The Wharton School of the University of PennsylvaniaMD from Cornell UniversityAB from Harvard Univeristy

Kevin VolppPhD, MD

Dr. Kevin Volpp is the founding Director of the Leonard Davis Institute Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, which is the home of one of two NIH-funded Centers on Behavioral Economics and Health, and the Co-Director of the University of Pennsylvania Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation. He is also a Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine and of Health Care Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Volpp's research program focuses on the impact of financial and organizational incentives on health outcomes.

Awards and HonorsArticle of the Year Award, Academy Health Annual Meeting, Boston, MA (2016)Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) Distinguished Investigator Award for Translation from Clinical Use into Public Benefit and Policy (2015)Matilda White Riley Award For Contributions to Social and Behavioral Science, 20th anniversary of the Office of Social and Behavioral Sciences Research, NIH (2015)Elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the Association of American Physicians (AAP), and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of SciencesFull List

EducationPHD from The Wharton School of the University of PennsylvaniaMD from the University of PennsylvaniaAB from Harvard University

George LowensteinPhd

Dr. George Loewenstein is the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, a founder of the fields of behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, and one of the leading thinkers examining the interface between economics and psychology, with more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals on topics in behavioral economics. He is the former president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, a member of the Russell Sage Foundation Behavioral Economics Roundtable, and served on the board of the Society for Neuroeconomics. With a book on Behavioral Economics and Human Motivation, (Oxford University Press), he is a specialist on the topic of human motivation and on the motivational effects of economic and non-economic incentives. He has also done extensive research on the topic of intertemporal choice (choices between immediate and delayed costs and benefits), on the regulation of visceral urges, such as hunger, pain and drug craving, and on decision making under risk. In recent years, he is one of a small group of behavioral economics who have been attempting to use the tools of their field not only to identify limitations in human decision making, but to improve it. He has worked closely with Dr. Volpp on a number of studies testing the effectiveness of patient incentives in a range of clinical areas including obesity, medication adherence, and mental acuity for older adults.

EducationPhD in Economics from Yale UniversityBA from Brandeis University

Andrea troxelScd

Andrea B. Troxel, ScD is Professor of Population Health and Director of the Division of Biostatistics in the Department of Population Health at New York University School of Medicine. She is an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association. Dr. Troxel is an expert on statistical methodology in the areas of missing data, longitudinal studies, and clinical trials. She has developed new approaches for handling non-ignorable missing data and informative observation processes in longitudinal studies, as well as innovations in the design and analysis of pragmatic trials. Dr. Troxel’s collaborative activities focus on oncology and behavioral economics; she has a wide range of experience with all phases of clinical research, including large-scale epidemiologic studies, early-phase clinical trials, and definitive randomized controlled trials. She has published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals on these and other topics.

EducationScD from Harvard UniversityBS from Yale University

SARA BLEICHPhD

Dr. Sara Bleich is a Professor of Public Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. She is also the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Dr. Bleich’s scholarship lies at the nexus of health policy and health services research. Her research provides evidence to support policy alternatives for obesity prevention and control, particularly among populations at higher risk for obesity. A signature theme throughout her work is an interest in asking simple, meaningful questions about the complex problem of obesity which can fill important gaps in the literature. Her research has been published in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, and American Journal of Public Health and has been featured in outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio.

Awards and HonorsWhite House Fellow as a Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative (2015-2016)Excellence in Public Interest Communication, Frank Conference (2015)Best Research Manuscript, Obesity (2012)Most Outstanding Abstract, International Conference on Obesity (2006)Full List